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To: Jill who wrote (1670)	1/30/2000 10:18:00 AM
From: Lou D	Respond to of 35685

RE: IRAs and 401s: Americans can't spend that money, but we feel free to spend all the rest of our money because we feel safe with that nest egg. Plus with increased net worth, even if you can't spend it now, you can get more/better mortgages/loans etc. to purchase houses,c ars. Most 401(k)s also have a very attractive loan provision. employees can borrow up to 50% of the balance and repay it through salary deductions. I have also seen statistics that many 401(k)s are not rolled over. Penalties are paid and the money is used for other purposes. .....LD

To: Jill who wrote (1670)	1/30/2000 1:44:00 PM
From: Ilaine	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 35685

When the Bureau of Economic Indicators measures the personal savings rate, it has changed its methodology to include money contributed to 401Ks and IRAs for people in private industry and those who work for the government, so that argument doesn't wash anymore. Americans are consuming more than they save, pure and simple. >>Key to understanding this methodology are the items the NIPA includes in personal income. These include: wage and salary disbursements; public and private employer contributions to pension and profit-sharing plans; individual contributions to pension and profit-sharing plans and individual retirement accounts; benefit payments from employment-based pension and profit-sharing plans; life insurance savings attributable to premiums paid; and transfer payments from the government (i.e, Social Security benefit payments, Supplemental Security Income benefit payments, etc.)<< asec.org Statistics may be found here: bea.doc.gov bea.doc.gov Admittedly it doesn't track capital gains INSIDE the IRAs and 401Ks, it probably can't. So that supports the argument that we really do save money, it's just invested in the stock market. I don't know what percentage of individuals actually have money in the stock market, but I don't think it's as high as you suppose. Gotta run to Blockbuster and return a tape before I get snowed in, I will look it up later.